Abstract

This theory-based thesis presents an in-depth study of Jasbir Puar’s concept of homonationalism. This term illuminates how the selective inclusion of (some) queer subjects within the nationalist project happens at the expense of racialized populations. In positioning homonationalism within the alternate critical genealogies of queer of color critique and women of color feminism, I demonstrate that these theoretical contributions were essential to Puar’s theorization of homonationalism through their early critiques of the appropriation of LGBTQIA+ rights for nationalist ends. I explore the origins and manifestations of homonationalism through the discourses of sexual exceptionalism and the semiotic construction of the “monster-terrorist-fag” in relation to normative national queer subjects. In an effort to theorize our present moment marked by the rise of fascism and authoritarianism, I investigate phenomena that signal the persistence of homonationalism in our present moment, despite new anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation, what I call homonationalism after homonationalism. Paying attention to the resonances between the present, the War on Terror, and Trump’s first presidency, I attempt to identify the shifting figure of the “monster-terrorist-fag” defined through present-day processes of detention and deportation as well as through deployments of US sexual exceptionalism. Ultimately, this thesis is an effort to evaluate the salience of the concept of homonationalism in a shifting sociopolitical context.